Abstract

Premature termination from child and adolescent psychotherapy is a prevalent problem for clients, their families, and mental health services. Rates of premature termination have been estimated at a range of 16-72%. Many variables have been examined as potential predictors of premature termination, yielding inconsistent conclusions. Researchers propose that part of this variability in rates and predictors is due to the inconsistent application of definitions of premature termination. The past literature identifies two main categories of definitions in this line of research: therapist judgment and number of sessions. This study aims to incorporate a relatively new definition, clinically significant change, in the evaluation of premature termination rates and predictor variables in a sample of adolescents receiving treatment in three community mental health clinics. Results showed that 65.7% of the participants were classified as premature terminators under the definition of clinically significant change. Premature termination was significantly correlated with parenting skills and ratings of the therapeutic alliance by both the parent and adolescent. However, the only variable that predicted PT was the therapeutic alliance as rated by the adolescent. It appears that, rather than having a small range of rates and universal predictors of premature termination, it may depend on the definition that is chosen.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2017-03-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd9140

Keywords

psychotherapy, adolescent, premature termination, clinically significant change

Language

english

Included in

Psychology Commons

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